Patients suffering from reduced renal function or renal failure often have to undergo hemodialysis treatments. During dialysis, blood is withdrawn from the patient and is circulated through a hemodialysis machine. The machine removes toxic waste products and returns the purified blood to the patient. Typically, dialysis treatments are performed three times a week for the duration of a patient's life unless a kidney transplant procedure occurs. To successfully undergo hemodialysis treatment, blood is typically circulated through the hemodialysis machine at approximately 150 to 600 ml/minute flow rate for about 3-4 hours. Blood flow from the venous system is inadequate to meet the required flow rate and repeated punctures of large arteries are not feasible. Therefore, native fistulas are often created to provide blood flow access for the hemodialysis machines.
Typically, a native fistula is created by transecting a vein in the wrist near the back of the hand, freeing the vein from its connective tissue, bringing the vein around to the palm side of the wrist adjacent an artery, and affixing an anastomosis to connect the vessels with an open lumen to join the vein to the artery. The result is advantageous with a vein having significantly more blood flow than normal that can be used for exchanging large volumes of blood during dialysis. The surgeon performs the procedure by opening the skin surgically over the chosen area and completing the procedure externally to connect the vessels. However, such a procedure can be quite invasive, resulting in increased risk of adverse events to the patient.
It is therefore desirable to provide a procedure and device which creates a native fistula with a minimum of surgical intervention, which is less invasive and less traumatic to the patient than the presently utilized procedures.